Back For Christmas
by Yanuara1996
Summary: Finnick Odair has been dead for over a year... or so everyone thought. After recovering from the incident in the sewers, he's finally allowed to return to District Four, just in time for Christmas. He expects to find Annie waiting for him, and finds a very special Christmas present waiting for him back home.


FINNICK

It had been more than a year since Finnick had "died" in the Capitol. His return was a shock to everybody. Katniss had been completely certain the mutts in the sewer had finished him off, but then again, it was dark and scary, and she was not there to see the rest. How Finnick survived is still a mystery, he should have bled to death even before the trident Beetee designed for him set off a powerful force field that cast all the mutts away.

Only minutes later did the group of avoxes find him. He was in critical conditions but the four of them knew the sewers well, and by some wonderful coincidence, one of them had once been a doctor.

They'd bandaged all his wounds and broken into a hospital in the Capitol. Despite his rebel status, people were more than willing to help Finnick Odair, so after several surgeries and blood transfusions, He was stabilized.

He'd fallen into a coma for a few weeks and ever since he'd woken he'd been begging to go back home. He had no way of contacting Annie, or Katniss, or anybody at all. District people who'd won the revolution and who weren't at all impressed by him had replaced the helpful Capitol nurses and doctors. However, after months of torturous isolation, they'd decided Finnick was strong enough to leave.

Capitol technology had never failed to amaze him. When he looked at himself in the mirror for the first time since the incident, he couldn't believe his eyes. Sure, he was scrawny, and he'd lost a lot of muscle mass from the lack of exercise, but the gnarly scars he expected were barely visible. There were a few on his neck they hadn't managed, or tried to get rid of, but after what he'd been through, it was nothing. In fact, Finnick Odair didn't care. He knew that the only person he wanted to see in the world wouldn't care at all that he wasn't his majestic old self.

Oh, how he'd dreamed about Annie. The thought of her filled his heart with both overwhelming joy and sadness. He'd hoped Katniss or Peeta or Johanna had taken care of her, he knew at least they were alive. But Annie… he wondered how she'd taken the news of his death, it broke his heart to think about it.

The Christmas spirit only made him sadder. People everywhere seemed so happy. They walked the streets with their loved ones, singing carols and buying presents, as if nothing had happened. As if the rubble and destruction from the war were invisible. When he got on the train to District 4 that day, on Christmas Eve, Annie was all he could think about.

ANNIE

Annie had been through a lot in her life. She'd lost her sanity after her Hunger Games, but she was thankful, for Finnick was always there. Not the past year, though. It had been how many months now since Finnick had passed away? She'd lost track, but it felt like it was yesterday. Under different circumstances Annie didn't think she would have made it. Finnick was all she had in the world, and the news of his death had absolutely shattered her. She'd spent weeks at the hospital, because doctors didn't think she could take good enough care of herself. They were all worried about the baby.

Even after a few months, when Annie returned back home, they sent Johanna back with her to take care of her. Annie didn't mind. She knew that though Johanna would never understand how devastated she was about losing Finnick, she'd cared a lot about him too. It was an unlikely friendship, but Annie was glad they had each other.

Little Caspian was five months old now. She'd though about naming him after his father, but it would have been too painful. He definitely looked like him, though. Caspian was the one who'd kept Annie going. During her pregnancy she hadn't given him much thought. She'd been too distraught about Finnick to give the baby much importance, but the second she laid eyes on him everything changed. He had Finnick's bronze hair and green eyes, and he gave Annie hope.

This was Caspian's first Christmas, and Annie's first Christmas as a widow. Johanna had returned to District 7 two months ago, once she'd decided Annie was well enough to take care of herself and of her baby. It's not like she didn't have breakdowns anymore, but whenever she got flashbacks, whenever she was upset about Finnick's death, she'd curl up in bed with Caspian and cry, and after a while it would all be better because he needed her to care for him. He was all she had left, and he was all she had left of Finnick, so she was determined to be a good mother for him and move on with her life, just like Finnick would have wanted her to.

Annie had decorated the house, the way she did every year. She set up a tree that she decorated with ornaments and seashells. There was a present for Caspian underneath it, and two that Katniss and Peeta had sent a few days before. She'd been dying to open them because she'd been feeling really sad lately, and she hoped whatever her friends had sent her could cheer her up. She opened the first present, even though it was technically not Christmas yet, and smiled. On the pile of torn wrapping paper lay two identical sweaters, red with a green Christmas tree, one of them very small. She picked up a note that read "For Annie and Caspian. Wear these when you visit soon!" She took the second present next. It was flat and squared. She tore the snowflake-patterned paper away and gasped.

A work of Peeta for sure, it was an exquisite painting of Finnick and herself. She recognized the picture; Finnick's mother had taken it when they were teenagers, after Finnick had returned from his games. It was Christmas and she'd surprised them kissing under the mistletoe, back when their romance was new and uncomplicated. She had no time to wonder how Peeta had found that picture before she felt the tears spill. She held Caspian close to her chest and cried. The painting was beautiful; he'd gotten everything right, the color of his hair, the way he wrapped his arm around her waist…

She found a place for the painting on a wall besides the Christmas tree and sat down to contemplate it. She fed Caspian, whose eyelids struggled to remain open, and then set him down in his crib.

Annie curled up on the couch, her knees hugged to her chest, and she fell asleep and dreamed of Finnick.

FINNICK

Finnick was nervous when he got to the train station. Though he'd been doing a lot of therapy for his arms and legs, it was still kind of tiring for him to walk long distances, but the thought of seeing Annie motivated him. He walked along the beach. Oh, how he'd missed it. The waves crashing against the shore had always soothed him. The district had changed a lot since he'd last seen it, but he had little time to admire his surroundings.

As he was reaching the Victor's Village a thought occurred to him. He knew Johanna, Peeta and Katniss were fine because he'd heard talk about them at the hospital during the months he'd spent in bed, but he had no way of knowing Annie was fine. Sure, he'd left her safely in District Thirteen, but Finnick knew Annie very well, and while he knew she was very strong, the news of his death must have been devastating.

The minute he spotted their home, however, all fears dissipated. He could see the Christmas tree through the window; decorated with seashells the way Annie liked it. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. His heart beat fast, and his breathing quickened, though he didn't know if it was the nervousness or the walk. He waited what seemed like hours, but might have actually been a few seconds, before the door finally opened.

ANNIE

A knock on the door woke Annie from her nap. She looked at the clock; it was two in the afternoon. She rarely got any visitors, so she had no idea who it might be, but she stood up and stretched anyway.

When she opened the door, Annie thought for a moment she was hallucinating, it wouldn't have been too surprising. She'd had too many dreams, all the same. Finnick would return home. He'd be perfectly safe and healthy, his hair just as shiny, his eyes just as bright. Then Annie would reach out to hug him, and the second her hand touched his skin, he'd burst into dust and get carried away by the wind.

She looked at him in awe for a second. This dream was different from the others. Finnick looked thinner and sickly, his neck was scarred, and there were circles under his eyes. She was afraid of touching him for fear he'd disappear. She wouldn't let herself feel hope this time, because hope was too devastating. She had to be dreaming.

"Annie," he said, his voice croaky, as if it hadn't been used in a long time. His bright, green eyes were filled with tears, and so were hers.

"Finnick," she muttered, her voice breaking. "Why do you keep doing this to me?"

"What? Annie…"

"You're just going to disappear the moment I touch you, and it just hurts too much…"

"What are you…"

"It's just a dream!" she snapped. "You're dead! Katniss saw you die!"

FINNICK

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could. He buried his face in her long, dark hair, and was overwhelmed by the sweet smell of her shampoo, and the softness of her skin, and her warm tears spilling on his neck.

Her body shook with sobs, and soon her arms found their way around his neck, and her lips searched his own. Her fingers tangled in his hair as they kissed passionately. He let her know with that kiss what he couldn't say with words. That he was sorry, that he never should have left her to play a hero in the Capitol. That he had missed her so much, that he'd dreamt of seeing her every single night he was away.

"Is this really, you?" she whispered. Finn stroked her cheek with his thumb and nodded. "How is it possible?"

"I know I have a lot of explaining to do, Love… but I swear it's me. I'm not dead, I never was. I'm sorry it took me so long to get back home, but I'm back now… Merry Christmas"

Annie kissed him once again, gentler this time. She stroked the scar on his neck then pressed her lips softly against it. "Oh, Finnie… what happened to you?"

And so he explained. He told her everything that had happened and wiped away her tears.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm fine now. I'm with you." Annie nodded and smiled halfheartedly. "I didn't get you a Christmas present," he said apologetically, spotting the torn gift-wrap on the floor.

"That one's from Peeta," she said, pointing to the painting on the wall. Finnick smiled.

"So he finished it… when he was recovering from his highjacking back in Thirteen, I asked him to paint us. I gave him that picture, though he was never well enough to complete it. It was hard enough for him to do our wedding cake."

"It's lovely," she said.

"What are those?" he asked, pointing to the bundle of sweaters on the table. Annie smiled nervously.

"Finn, I actually do have a present for you," she whispered. He smiled and opened his mouth to ask what it was, but Annie was already dragging him upstairs, to their room, where Caspian's crib sat next to their bed.

ANNIE

She wasn't very sure how he would react. Annie hadn't known she was pregnant when Finnick had left for the Capitol, so he had no idea they were expecting a baby.

Finnick's reaction when he spotted the crib was similar to Annie's when she saw him standing by the door. There was a mixture of joy and confusion and shock. "Annie, what—"

"His name is Caspian," she said, pulling him closer to the crib, where Caspian was peacefully asleep. She watched Finnick's face. He looked at Caspian, as if he'd never seen anything like him before. He turned back to Annie in disbelief. "I found out soon after you left… I don't know what I would have done without him, Finn."

"I'm a father," he sobbed. All the pain and the anguish he'd felt seemed to be gone, and there was no longer anything in his eyes but delight. "We… we have a baby, Annie!"

Caspian stirred and yawned, opening his eyes; green and beautiful like his father's. Annie picked him up from his crib and held him against her chest, where he rested his head on her shoulder. "Sweetheart, this is your daddy," she said softly. Finnick's arms shook, so she had him sit down on their bed before setting the baby in his arms.

Caspian looked curiously up at his father, who seemed just as perplexed as the baby. Finnick stroked his hair gently and examined his tiny hands, as if amazed that a hand could be so small. Caspian smiled and wrapped his chubby fingers around one of Finnick's.

"Merry Christmas," Annie said, sitting besides the two greatest loves of her life.

Just a few months back, Annie thought she had lost everything that mattered to her. But then Caspian was born and he'd given her a reason to live. Now, she was sitting on her bed with her husband, the love of her life, and their baby, the greatest thing that had ever happened to her on Christmas Eve. She wondered how life could get any better.

FINNICK

As he sat there with his baby in his arms, all the hatred, pain and resentment that had once consumed him seemed to evaporate like water from the moist sand on a hot day in District 4. On his way back home, Finnick had expected to be reunited with the love of his life, but what he found was greater than anything he could have imagined.

Caspian was perfect. He had his eyes and hair, but his mother's light skin and delicate features. He was all he'd ever wanted. Finnick realized in that moment, that every miserable experience he'd lived, both games he'd had to endure, all the war, the prostitution, the misery, the deaths… they had been worth it. Finnick could have ended his life like he had dreamed so many times. He could have refused to comply with Snow's demands and gotten he and Annie killed, but he would have never lived to see this moment, and that thought of not holding Caspian in his arms was frightening.

Caspian warmed up to his father pretty quickly, as if he hadn't been absent the first five months of his life. The three of them rested on the bed. Finnick and Annie holding hands with their precious baby boy between them, and though they didn't have any presents to exchange, or any snow to play in they were happy. It was Finnick and Annie's greatest Christmas together. It was their first Christmas as a happy little family.


End file.
